Japan already had several confirmed coronavirus cases when a giant cruise ship arrived at the port of Yokohama last week.
Now, with the disclosure that 64 people from that ship have tested positive for the virus, Japan is scrambling to prevent a larger outbreak even as it prepares to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors for the Summer Olympics starting in Tokyo in July.
The Japanese government on Monday quarantined the ship, the Diamond Princess, with more than 3,700 crew and passengers aboard, after learning that a man who had disembarked in Hong Kong on Jan. 25 had tested positive for the virus.
Read the entire story at New York Times and an update at Washington Post. Peter Rabinowitz, co-director of the UW MetaCenter for Pandemic Preparedness and Global Health Security, is quoted in both.